‘Robert’ retired yearend at age 63 1/2, electing COBRA for the 18 months until he’s Medicare eligible.

Now he’s decided it’s too expensive and asked if we could switch him to a (subsidized) Marketplace Plan. 

HERE’S the rule: “You can enroll in a Marketplace plan within 60 days of losing your job-based coverage.”

“If you choose to end COBRA coverage early, you’ll have to wait until next Open Enrollment (November 1 - January 15) to get Marketplace coverage (unless you experience another life event).”

Seems pretty black and white, right? 

But there’s some ‘gray’, too. For example, what if your former employer paid your COBRA premium for (only) the first three months, or you lost eligibility for government premium assistance?

Related to that, ‘Roberta’s’ Badgercare eligibility ended in October, but she successfully applied to the Marketplace for coverage March 1, well past the same 60-day window that applied to Robert. 

My point?

Anecdotally, Marketplace rules are sometimes open to ‘interpretation.’ We told ‘Roberta’ we couldn’t help her. CLICK.

So now I’m telling ‘Robert’ to apply on line and see what happens. Maybe he’ll beat the system, too.

Proving - again, anecdotally - lots of you are smarter than me!

Duh!